Small States in an Age of Empires: The Duchy of Parma's Colonial Moment, 1750–1770

Abstract:Often thought of as the "Athens of Italy" during the Enlightenment, and as a microcosm of the Italian peninsula and of the eighteenth century alike, the Duchy of Parma played a unique role in the culture and politics of the age. This essay focuses on its "colonial moment" as a target of French imperial ambitions around the time of the Seven Years' War, on its vibrant intellectual life as well as on the theory and practice of its political economy. Many Parmese resented the duchy'srole as a de facto French colony under Secretary of State Guillaume Dutillot, and the resulting dynamics of acculturation, institutionalization, and resistance serve as a baroque mirror for the longer story of small states in tempestuous world economies and the broader historical dynamics of globalization and empire—dynamics which very much remain central to the past, present, and future of capitalism.